


Day Nine

by dizzy



Series: Crisscolfer Advent 2014 [9]
Category: Glee RPF
Genre: M/M, crisscolfer advent 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 21:35:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2747930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fireman!au where somebody forgot to turn their lights off for to long? Maybe those big old fashioned lights that we love but they're such a fire hazard?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day Nine

When Chris is a kid, he has nightmares about his house burning down. Some nights he doesn’t survive. Some nights he’s the only one who does. Some nights he wakes up still choking on smoke. 

His parents don’t know where the nightmares come from. His family’s never had that kind of tragedy hit before, knock on wood. But all the same Chris spends more than a few nights in his parents bed. 

When he’s around eleven, the dreams stop. 

*

The fire isn’t serious. No one was hurt. Just property damage on the first three floors. It's an old building, something about the lights. Insurance will cover it. 

That’s what the landlord is going around telling everyone. Chris lives on the fifth floor, this shouldn’t even affect him - except it does, because… it just… it does. 

He knows he is fine in the rational part of his mind, but the part of him that smelled the acrid smoke and felt the heat of flames as he was evacuated out doesn’t get it.

His chest goes tight and his vision swims. He’s shaking and struggling and he can’t get enough air and-

“Breathe,” a voice says. 

He looks up. Hands land on his shoulder, intense brown eyes staring at him. The guy is wearing the heavy, soot-smeared outfit of a firefighter and his hair is matted down curls. 

“I can’t-” Chris says, and his voice is so high it should embarrass him but he can’t process anything right now except the intensity of the dark feeling wrapping its tendrils around him. 

“Come on, come over here with me,” the guy says. “My name is Darren, by the way. What’s yours?” 

Chris can’t even answer. 

“We’ll get to that later, it’s fine,” Darren says. He leads Chris to a part of the sidewalk away from everyone else. “Can you sit here for me?” 

Sitting is a relief. Chris hadn’t realized how close to his legs failing him that he was. He rests his elbows on his thighs and lets his head drop to his hands. 

Darren kneels in front of him, putting his hands on the sides of Chris’s knees. “You’re having a panic attack, and that’s totally cool, okay? This reaction you’re having is natural, because fire is fucking scary and I say that as someone who once in a while has to actually deal with it. But you’re safe right now, and that’s what I need you to keep repeating to yourself, okay? And if you can’t, I’ll repeat it for you: you’re okay, man. You’re out, and you’re okay.” 

_I’m out and I’m okay_ , Chris thinks, and yeah, after a few seconds, the pressure does lessen a little bit. Not completely, but just enough. 

*

 

Chris sits right there and Darren sits right with him for the next ten minutes, until someone is shouting his name from down the street. 

“Stay right here, okay?” Darren says. “I’ll be right back.” 

He watches Darren jog away, feeling like his head is swimming and his limbs are too heavy for him to possibly support. 

He loses track of the moments between Darren leaving and Darren coming back. This time Darren settles beside him on the sidewalk. “Here,” he says, and presses a bottle of water in Chris’s hand before draping a crinkly foil blanket over his shoulders. “It’s getting kind of chilly.” 

“Oh,” Chris says. 

“So the building’s definitely gonna be off limits for a couple days,” Darren says gently. “Do you need us to call someone for you.” 

“I can’t…” Chris feels that drowning sensation again. 

It abates a little when Darren reaches out and squeezes his arm. “It’s cool. Take your time.” 

“I don’t,” Chris admits. “Have anyone. I don’t even know anyone in town yet. And my - I left all my stuff upstairs. I can’t, I don’t even have my wallet, I can’t even stay at a hotel. I’m… I’m in my fucking pajamas.” 

He actually laughs, because it just hit him. He’s in his goddamn Ninja Turtles pajamas. 

“I noticed. Those are awesome, by the way,” Darren says, grinning. “I’m totally jealous. And look, man - that sucks. We’re not really supposed to do this, but if you want to sit tight until we get this wrapped up here, you can crash on my couch tonight.” 

“You’re a stranger,” Chris says, and he means it in the sense of _and you’d do that for me_ , not _and I don’t trust you_. 

Darren seems to get it. “Let me help you out.” 

Chris closes his eyes and nods. “Okay.” 

*

Darren drives him to an apartment that’s nicer than it looks like a firefighter could afford. “I have to get back down to the station to finish my shift, but let me give you the quickie tour.” 

Chris walks in a daze down hallways, sees the bathroom and the kitchen. “How do you know I’m not going to rob you blind?” 

Darren looks at him and shrugs. “I don’t. But I’m pretty good at reading people. I think I’m safe with you.”

 _Safe._

It takes Chris a moment to realize that's exactly what he feels right now. 

Then Darren's gone, leaving Chris with a stack of clean clothes and a shower and permission to raid all the cabinets. 

*

He wakes up and stares at an unfamiliar ceiling. 

He’s briefly tempted to leave, except he has no money and no keys and no real idea of where he even is. 

He’s not in the panic attack daze he’d been in the night before, at least. He sits up slowly and then jumps when Darren’s head pops around the corner. 

He looks completely different, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts with a head full of clean, still damp but bouncy hair. He looks younger and gorgeous and wow so Chris maybe is halfway in love before he even opens his mouth. “Hey! You’re up! Awesome, I’m making breakfast. Bacon or sausage?”

“You don’t have to-” Chris starts to say. 

Darren cuts him off. “Aw, fuck it, I’ll make both. Not every day I get to entertain a gorgeous guy like yourself.”

“Are you flirting?” Chris blurts out. 

“Is that creepy?” Darren asks. “Because if it is the answer is no.” 

“And if it isn’t…?” 

Darren shrugs. “Look, you had a rough night, I’m not making it about that. But if you’re open to it in a few days, I’m probably gonna ask you out.” 

“You don’t even know me,” Chris says. 

“Yeah, I mean, the asking out, the date thing, that would be to get to know you,” Darren says, grinning. “But right now, breakfast, then we get you some clothes, then I call and see if they have an ETA for your building being cleared.” 

And he disappears again, singing out loud. 

Chris looks down at his bare feet on Darren’s carpet and smiles. 

*

Sometimes Chris has nightmares about the fire. 

He’s not a kid anymore. He can’t go run and climb into his parents’ bed, but that’s okay. 

He has his own firefighter to protect him now.

**Author's Note:**

> [reblog on tumblr](http://alittledizzy.tumblr.com/post/104822611775/pairing-chris-darren-rating-pg-word-count-1174)


End file.
